NIGHT VOYAGE FOR WATER. 197 



return to-morrow, if possible. We left but five gallons in the 

 camp, and took the same quantity with us for our voyage. 



The water in the lake, from Gunnison's Island to "the springs,'* 

 is bold and deep, averaging from fifteen to twenty feet, within a 

 hundred yards of the shore, and reaching in some places thirty-six 

 feet. After rowing till midnight, a slight breeze sprang up, which 

 enabled us to set our sails, and advance, though slowly, on our 

 course. The men had been much fatigued before we started, by a 

 hard day's work in climbing the rocks and rebuilding the stations ; 

 so they were sent to their blankets in the bottom of the boat, 

 an order which they most promptly obeyed, and were soon buried 

 in profound repose. The stillness of this beautiful night, as I sat 

 at the helm, guiding our little bark over the solitary waters of this 

 mysterious sea, was most impressive. 



" Silence how dead ! and darkness how profound! 

 Nor eye nor listening ear an object finds." 



The moon rose bright and clear over the rugged cliffs of the pro- 

 montory, as, an hour before daybreak, we landed at our little pier 

 of stones ; and ere long the gray tints of dawn began to appear, 

 followed by the blush of a most lovely morning. 



A fire was soon kindled, cofiee-pots and camp-kettles made their 

 appearance, and in a short time a smoking breakfast was spread 

 upon a little patch of grass, of which all partook with a keenness 

 of appetite little dreamed of by more refined but less favoured 

 mortals. In less than an hour we had filled our vessels, increased 

 the length and stability of our pier, washed our faces and hands — 

 the first time for ten days, (as water was too precious an article to 

 be wasted for any purpose other than drinking and cooking,) — and 

 were on our way back to camp, where, favoured by a noble breeze 

 from the south, we arrived at two o'clock. The station on the 

 summit was entirely completed and covered with cloth ; and the 

 survey of the island being finished, every preparation was made 

 for an early start for the main shore on the morrow, there to 

 renew the dismal scenes of salt-plains, mud-flats, gnats, and mus- 

 quitoes. 



I noticed this afternoon that the gulls'-eggs, which, when we 

 arrived upon the island lay so thick upon the ground that we could 

 scarcely avoid treading upon them, had now entirely disappeared 

 from the vicinity of the camp. They had undoubtedly been re- 

 moved by the gulls themselves to some safer place of deposite, but 



